A tale of two crises: Ebola East, Tshisekedi West

News Monitor #29
25 June 2026

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DRC News Round-Up

Three days after the deadly June 12th crackdown on protesters in Kinshasa, Parliament definitively adopted the referendum-organization law paving the way to a Tshisekedi third term (see more below).
The Ebola (Bundibugyo) outbreak has become the fastest-growing in Africa's history, passing 1,100 confirmed cases and 291 deaths by June 25th as transmission accelerates despite a reinforced response. Insecurity, attacks on response teams, and rumors that the disease is "fake" continue to hamper containment (see more below).
On June 11th, Prime Minister Judith Suminwa chaired the first meeting of a DRC–U.S. task force to monitor the Washington Accords and related economic agreements. At this stage, the initiative remains largely symbolic, with the Accords’ core sticking points still unresolved.
FARDC and allied forces retook Mikenge, Kalingi and Kakenge in the Fizi highlands of South Kivu in mid-June, advancing toward the Minembwe airfield used by the M23-aligned coalition to launch drone strikes.
DRC’s national football team is competing in the World Cup for the first time since 1974. Their first game against Portugal was a draw. After losing to Colombia on the 23rd, they will have to beat Uzbekistan on the 27th.

Sharpening escalation in Kinshasa

On June 15th, the Senate and National Assembly definitively adopted the referendum-organization law, reconciling the two chambers' versions on the last day of the parliamentary session, three days after the deadly June 12th crackdown on an opposition sit-in. The text now awaits promulgation by President Tshisekedi. The opposition C64 coalition views the law as the last institutional step toward a constitutional change that could reset presidential term limits.
The constitutional fight spilled into a sharp confrontation between the Catholic Church and the ruling coalition. After the bishops' conference (CENCO) warned on June 20th that "the Nation is in peril" and reaffirmed the two-term limit, the ruling Union Sacrée branded the declaration "an act of subversion”. UDPS Secretary-General Augustin Kabuya tore up the bishops' text on camera and accused some bishops of complicity with Kabila, Kagame and the M23.
The opposition kept up pressure after the June 12th protests.The C64 announced another march, set on July 8th, to demand Tshisekedi's resignation, while the Justice Minister opened consultations with opposition leaders and monitoring bodies over the crackdown. Kabuya separately accused the C64 of recruiting Mobondo militiamen for the sit-in.
The crackdown drew criticism from Washington: House Foreign Affairs Committee Ranking Member Gregory Meeks called the violence against opposition leaders "deeply troubling," affirming Congolese citizens' constitutional right to free expression and urging the government to halt any rights violations.

Bundibugyo becomes fastest-growing Ebola outbreak in Africa’s history

The Ebola (Bundibugyo) outbreak in the east passed 1,100 confirmed cases on June 25th, with 291 deaths (Ituri province accounting for roughly 90% of cases). The WHO warned that transmission is accelerating despite a reinforced response.
Ebola response teams came under repeated attack in Butembo and Beni. Ituri civil-society groups called for greater involvement of local actors to counter rumors that Ebola is "fake," while Ituri's nurses denounced their working conditions. To encourage people to seek treatment, health care was made free across the province as of June 19th.
France confirmed its first Ebola case on June 24th, a humanitarian doctor who had boarded a commercial flight from Kinshasa while nearly asymptomatic and was isolated on arrival — the second confirmed infection in Europe stemming from the outbreak, after an American physician was treated in Berlin in May.

DRC UPDATES

ARMED CONFLICT AND HUMAN RIGHTS

Ituri

Militia pressure widened in Mambasa territory, where CODECO/UPCL fighters coming from North Kivu occupied land near Tepe and drove residents to flee around June 18th — adding to the already-present ADF threat in the area.
On June 5th, Tshisekedi replaced Lt.-Gen. Johnny Luboya Nkashama — governor under the state of siege since May 2021 — with Gen.-Major Gaby Kasongo Batoka Mulumba.

North Kivu

M23 stepped up arrests of alleged "Wazalendo collaborators" in its occupied areas, detaining at least five people in Rusamambu (Walikale) from June 11th. In neighboring Masisi, the rights group CFDD reported that around ten people — including two Médecins Sans Frontières Belgium staff — remained missing after arrests by alleged AFC/M23 cadres over the previous ten days, and that eight civilians were executed in Bukombo groupement (Oso Banyungu sector) on the night of June 9th.
M23 leaned increasingly on aerial drone strikes against Wazalendo and FARDC positions across Masisi and Walikale during the period — a tactic that repeatedly caught civilians. Strikes hit Bibwe (Masisi) on June 11th and Kinyumba and Lwibo two days later; in Walikale, they struck Buhimba, FARDC positions at Muunda, and the village of Mushali, where three civilians were killed and five wounded.
Suspected FDLR combatants carried out a wave of incursions around Kibirizi (Rutshuru territory, an M23-occupied area) over June 13th–15th, burgling some ten households, shooting and wounding a young woman, and taking five people hostage. Residents responded by organizing community night patrols in small groups.
The Walikale-based militia Uhuru RDC fractured into infighting on June 18th, with five fighters killed in clashes between factions loyal to Désiré Mashite and to Shimiray Zidane.

South Kivu

FARDC and Wazalendo forces staged a major offensive in the Fizi/Itombwe highlands, announcing the recapture of Mikenge (with Kalingi and Kakenge) on June 12th and of Kitavi, Irundu and parts of Minembwe center by June 16th–18th, positioning forces to threaten the Minembwe airfield.
On June 15th, Twirwaneho militants captured Bitale (Kalehe territory) after two days of fighting, forcing FARDC to fall back to Bulambika.

Haut-Uele, Bas-Uele and Maniema

On the night of June 11th, suspected Lord's Resistance Army fighters attacked Banda (Ango territory, Bas-Uélé), killing one person and abducting eight young students.
In Lubutu (Maniema), the territorial administrator requested military reinforcements on June 12th after three days of fighting (June 6th–8th) between FARDC and Mai-Mai fighters loyal to self-proclaimed General Bukuyi. The administrator reported six dead — including three civilians — 14 wounded, and burned houses, saying the militia incursion aimed to loot FARDC weapons.
In Haut-Uélé, FARDC said they had intensified operations against the ADF around Mungbere, while Ituri's governor said the ADF were attempting to operate in small groups.

REPORTING AND ANALYSIS

In a June 17th commentary, Human Rights Watch highlights the continued atrocities accompanying M23's forced-recruitment campaign, deems Rwanda an occupying power liable for M23's abuses, and calls for expanded sanctions on Rwanda and M23 commanders.
A June 17th La Croix commentary argues that as the DRC militarizes the protection of mineral production, the workers themselves end up treated as obstacles — a dynamic in line with the broader move toward securitized extraction.

DISPLACEMENT AND HUMANITARIAN

OCHA warned on June 19th of "alarming" deterioration in IDP camps, after ten people — eight of them children — died of disease in 48 hours at the Kigonze site (Ituri).
The DRC Red Cross condemned the killing of two of its volunteers on June 16th in Kakumba (Walungu territory, South Kivu) while running a drinking-water access mission.

BUSINESS AND MINERALS

M23 imposed discriminatory tax arrangements on firms selling oil, rice, flour, sugar and cement in zones under their occupation; oil operators warned the measures make them uncompetitive.
The Senate unanimously passed a bill to create a Kinshasa stock exchange on June 11th, aimed at attracting investment.
The Lobito Atlantic Railway received its first copper shipment from the DRC following the reopening of a flood-damaged section of the corridor through Angola.

U.S. AND INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMACY

MONUSCO chief James Swan visited Goma (June 12th–15th), reaffirming support for the ceasefire, before meeting Angolan President João Lourenço on June 15th. He will brief the UN Security Council on the 26th.
The Security Council will also vote on a draft resolution to renew the mandates of the 1533 Sanctions Committee and its Group of Experts which expire on July 1st. The DRC will assume the presidency of the Security Council in July.
Egypt's President al-Sisi reaffirmed support for DRC sovereignty after meeting Tshisekedi in Cairo (June 10th–11th), where the two governments announced a program to train Congolese troops in Egypt. Tshisekedi instructed the defense minister and FARDC chief of staff to move quickly on implementation, alongside agreements on investment, health, and urban development.
The French embassy in the DRC denied claims that France deployed soldiers to aid the FARDC during its recent offensives in the Fizi highlands.

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Version francophone

En bref

Trois jours après la répression meurtrière des manifestants à Kinshasa le 12 juin, le Parlement a définitivement adopté la loi sur l’organisation du référendum ouvrant la voie à un troisième mandat de Tshisekedi (voir plus bas).
L’épidémie d’Ebola (souche Bundibugyo) est devenue la plus rapide de l’histoire de l’Afrique, dépassant 1 100 cas confirmés et 291 décès au 25 juin, la transmission s’accélérant malgré une riposte renforcée. L’insécurité, les attaques contre les équipes de riposte et les rumeurs selon lesquelles la maladie serait « fausse » continuent d’entraver l’endiguement.
Le 11 juin, la Première ministre Judith Suminwa a présidé la première réunion d’une task force RDC–États-Unis chargée du suivi des Accords de Washington et des accords économiques connexes. À ce stade, l’initiative demeure largement symbolique, les principaux points de blocage des Accords restant non résolus.
Les FARDC et leurs alliés ont repris Mikenge, Kalingi et Kakenge dans les hauts plateaux de Fizi (Sud-Kivu) à la mi-juin, progressant vers l’aérodrome de Minembwe utilisé par la coalition du M23 pour lancer des frappes de drones.
L’équipe nationale de football de la RDC participe à la Coupe du monde pour la première fois depuis 1974. Son premier match contre le Portugal s’est soldé par un match nul. Après sa défaite face à la Colombie le 23, elle devra battre l’Ouzbékistan le 27.

A Kinshasa, les tensions ne s’apaisent pas

Le 15 juin, le Sénat et l’Assemblée nationale ont définitivement adopté la loi sur l’organisation du référendum, harmonisant les versions des deux chambres le dernier jour de la session parlementaire, trois jours après la répression meurtrière du 12 juin d’un sit-in de l’opposition. Le texte attend désormais sa promulgation par le président Tshisekedi. La coalition d’opposition C64 considère cette loi comme la dernière étape institutionnelle vers une révision constitutionnelle susceptible de réinitialiser la limite des mandats présidentiels.
Le bras de fer constitutionnel a viré à une confrontation ouverte entre l’Église catholique et la coalition au pouvoir. Après que la conférence épiscopale (CENCO) a averti le 20 juin que « la Nation est en péril » et réaffirmé la limite de deux mandats, l’Union sacrée au pouvoir a qualifié cette déclaration d’« acte de subversion ». Le Secrétaire général de l’UDPS Augustin Kabuya a déchiré le texte des évêques devant les caméras et accusé certains évêques de complicité avec Kabila, Kagame et le M23.
L’opposition a maintenu la pression après les manifestations du 12 juin. Le C64 a annoncé une nouvelle marche, prévue le 8 juillet, pour exiger la démission de Tshisekedi, tandis que le ministre de la Justice a ouvert des consultations avec les leaders de l’opposition et les organes de monitoring au sujet de la répression. Kabuya a par ailleurs accusé la C64 d’avoir recruté des miliciens Mobondo pour le sit-in.
La répression a suscité des critiques à Washington : le chef de file démocrate de la commission des Affaires étrangères de la Chambre des représentants, Gregory Meeks, a jugé « profondément préoccupantes » les violences contre les leaders de l’opposition, réaffirmant le droit constitutionnel des citoyens congolais à la liberté d’expression et appelant le gouvernement à mettre fin à toute violation des droits.

Bundibugyo devient l’épidémie d’Ebola à la croissance la plus rapide de l’histoire de l’Afrique

L’épidémie d’Ebola (souche Bundibugyo) dans l’est a dépassé les 1 100 cas confirmés le 24 juin (la province de l’Ituri concentrant environ 90 % des cas). L’OMS a averti que la transmission s’accélère malgré une riposte renforcée.
Les équipes de riposte contre Ebola ont été la cible d’attaques répétées à Butembo et Beni. Des organisations de la société civile de l’Ituri ont plaidé pour une plus grande implication des acteurs locaux afin de contrer les rumeurs selon lesquelles Ebola serait « faux », tandis que les infirmiers de l’Ituri ont dénoncé leurs conditions de travail. Pour inciter la population à se faire soigner, les soins de santé ont été rendus gratuits dans toute la province à compter du 19 juin.
La France a confirmé son premier cas d’Ebola le 24 juin : un médecin humanitaire qui avait embarqué sur un vol commercial au départ de Kinshasa alors qu’il était quasi asymptomatique et a été isolé à son arrivée — la deuxième infection confirmée en Europe liée à cette épidémie, après le traitement d’un médecin américain à Berlin en mai.

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